Using Your Press Release to Join the Dots of Social Media

December 12, 2012

Social media often overlaps the world of the press release so it makes sense that the connectivity of Social media joins with and enhances the messaging and strategy of a press release. Some experts would argue that Social Media has changed the press release forever with their disparate sharing methods and availability. The next time you are ready to issue a press release – look over some of these tips to successfully integrate your release with social media and make it more sharable, discoverable and readable!

Logo – It might look excellent on your website and printed materials but if it doesn’t scale to Facebook or Twitter – it’s going to be a problem. Make sure you include different sizes to ensure maximum visibility opportunities.

Social Media Profiles – Make sure that if you have a Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or other Social Media profiles that they are available.

Links, Links, Links – Make sure to Include links in every paragraph if possible. Link back to your home or landing pages or any relevant campaign content so even if your press release gets edited down for space, readers will have the pertinent information they need. Plus your SEO and inbound marketing remains current.

AV – Make sure to include as much multimedia. Video, Audio, Slideshare links, Pinterest boards – whatever extra content that you can manipulate to gain attention and deliver your key messages.

Tweetable Paragraphs – Try to create small chunks of succinct details within your press releases so that they can easily be translated into social media spaces. This makes it easier for the media to Tweet your info.

Brevity – Keep it short, quick, easy and creative. It’s more likely to be picked up, shared and retweeted if it’s sharp, pithy and to the point.

Headline – Your press release title is more like a news headline in the Social Media age. It has to be eye catching, setting up release almost as a news story to drive the reader to your messages.

SEO – You only increase the chances of media and bloggers finding your information, by using SEO keyphrases throughout your press release, including the headline.

Clarity – Tell your story as clearly as you can in all your paragraphs. Closing Argument – Make sure to use your final closing paragraph to make a memorable last chance pitch and reiterate the key points.

Segment – Be sure to keep your audience groups at the top of mind. A social media optimized press release targets at least three different and distinct groups: media, bloggers and consumers. It needs to appeal to all of them of some level.

Template – If this is the first time you are producing a social media optimized release then try to simplify it and create a template approach. Once you have created a template then you can reuse it for each new press release, even if they all incorporate different social media or content. This will make writing them much faster in future and allow you to concentrate on the most important feature – the content!

RSS – If you store your press releases in one place, you should accomodate your audience further by incorporating an RSS feed facility so they can access any new or past press releases as soon as they are uploaded – as well as being convenient and courteous – it will be one of the quickest ways of building and maintaining an audience.